Jordan Mailata has heard the push back on the tush push, and the Eagles left tackle has had enough.
Mailata calls it “incredibly disrespectful” that the team’s win over the Chiefs is being sullied by officials’ disregard for penalties on the tush push.
“I understand the outrage [over the tush push],” Mailata said during an interview with 94 WIP on Tuesday, via ESPN. “What I don’t understand is them using it as an excuse to why we won the game. I think it’s incredibly disrespectful to our defense and our special teams who balled out. And my brothers on defense and special teams who balled out that game, who had our backs when we weren’t moving the ball or weren’t doing anything.”
The Eagles ran the tush push six times, getting four first downs and a touchdown. Videos showed the Eagles offensive linemen getting off the line of scrimmage before the snap.
Jalen Hurts’ 1-yard tush push touchdown with 7:48 left, which came after rookie safety Andrew Mukuba’s pick of Patrick Mahomes on a pass that bounced off the hands of Travis Kelce, gave the Eagles a 20-10 lead. They won 20-17.
“That pisses me off, because we give so much to this game and to kind of base off a short-yardage play, that is a football play, and say that we won the game off that, but not how our defense played and not how our special teams have played, putting us in those positions. You know I think it’s bullcrap,” Mailata said. “I just think it’s rubbish. Absolute rubbish, man. It makes my blood boil just thinking about it.”
The Eagles have converted the play 96.6 percent of the time in fourth-and-1 scenarios since 2022.
